[CH] BLS to order 58 FLIRT trains for regional and S-Bahn services

Swiss railoperator BLS is in the process of placing the largest rolling stock order in its history. The company has decided to award Stadler Rail with the contract for the delivery of 58 6-car EMU’s that will replace the aging trains of the type Einheitswagen III, RBDe 565 and RBDe 566 II. The first new FLIRT train should enter revenue earning service in 2021.

Until 2025, Stadler Rail will deliver 58 singe-deck trains with an overall length of around 100 meter. The design is based on the FLIRT-product family of Stadler Rail. 43 older trains will be replaced, the rest of the batch will be used to expand existing BLS services such as the Lötschberg-Bergstrecke, in the Simmental and the S2-service in Bern). Each train will have around 250 seats.

Photo: BLS

The order for Stadler Rail is the conclusion of a tender process which started in 2015 and finally resulted in two concrete offers, from Bombardier and Stadler. In the next years, the first trains will be built to be subjected to an extensive test program, so that commissioning can start in 2021.

Stadler Rail will deliver the EMUs in two different versions, both with a top speed of 160 km/h: